Sanctuary
by 2bethz2
Summary: So I ran away from home. I was a member of an Irish pure blood family and my parents were strong supporters of Lord Voldemort. I had been brought up to loath muggle borns and blood traitors. Punishments consisted of harsh beatings and isolation in my bedroom if I failed to comply with their expectations. But dont judge me, I'm nothing like them. Hogwarts is my home now. George/OC
1. New Girl

**New story guys. I love Fred and George so much. They are honestly my favourite characters! I got this idea a couple months back and only just decided to actually write it. I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Harry potter World, not the people or the main storyline or anything else. Constance 'Connie' Younger is mine though. :)**

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Chapter 1 – New Girl

So I ran away from home. I was a member of an Irish pure blood family and both of my parents were strong supporters of Lord Voldemort, (even though nobody knows if he if even still alive). I had been brought up to loath muggle borns and blood traitors. Punishments consisted of harsh beatings and isolation in my bedroom if I failed to comply with their expectations.

But don't judge me; I am nothing like my parents. After nearly fourteen years of putting up with their crap I had had enough and sent a letter to Albus Dumbledore asking for a sanctuary at Hogwarts which he had granted me without hesitation. Five days ago I was picked up from my home in Northern Ireland while my parents were working. I hoped never to see them again.

Anyway, I was now standing at the front of the main hall with a bunch of first years waiting to be sorted into my house. Needless to say, it was bloody embarrassing being a fourth year among first years so I had already been singled out from everyone else my age. You would think that I could be sorted separately but no. Just my luck.

"Constance Younger." I cringed slightly as my name was called. I hated it almost as much as my mother. All eyes were fixed on me at this point to I held my breath and made my way up the steps and sat on the stool. A teacher in green robes who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall placed an old hat on my head. Without a moments delay the hat's voice entered my mind:

'_Well this is different.' _It began. _'You are one of the few people who would be well suited for two different houses. You have a lot of bravery for leaving your family and standing up for what you believe in, that would make you a wonderful candidate for Gryffindor.'_

I sighed; this was taking a lot longer than some of the others did and it was making people talk. I hoped it would be over soon.

'_But then there is your bloodline to consider. Other members of your family, had they attended this school, would have been sorted into Slytherin.'_

Don't you dare compare me to my family! I screamed in my mind. My eyes squeezed shut.

"GRIFFINDOR!" The hat finally shouted. There was a cheer from one of the tables which wore red and gold and I went to join them.

When the sorting ceremony finally ended the plates in front of us filled with food and conversations began between the new students and the old.

I stacked my plate with a variety of different foods like chicken drumsticks, salad and potato and began to eat when two boys who had been sitting further down the table approached me and sat on either side. They were identical in almost every way. Their hair was a bright red colour that made mine look like it had faded in the sunlight and they had light freckles dotted across their face.

"You look a little old to be a first year." Said the boy to my left, there was a hint of humour in his tone.

"That would be because I am not a first year." I said pointedly to him.

"Then why were you being sorted just now?" Questioned the other twin.

"Are you always this nosey?" I asked them both I an attempt to change the subject.

"Yes." They both said together and continued to look at me expectantly.

"I have just moved to England from Ireland and so I transferred her from an Irish wizarding school." I said, being as vague as possible. I didn't want anybody to know about my parents because I don't think it would have done anything for my popularity.

"So if you aren't a first year..."

"I am a fourth year." I said before the boy on the left finished his sentence.

"You are going to be seeing a lot more of us then." Said the right one. "We are fourth years too." Oh joy! I thought to myself. I had hoped for a year to study and forget my family.

"Don't feel like you have to talk to me just because I am new." I said sweetly.

"Don't be silly, any ginger is a friend of ours."

I laughed a little and realised it was one of the first times for a while that I did so. I had basically spent the last five years of my life being miserable because I had decided not to comply with my family's expectations.

"So, Constance Younger. Interesting name you have there." I forced a smile.

"And if you call me by it I will hit you." I said through my teeth. "I hate that name."

"That's nice." They said in unison. Compared to the rest of my family I am nice, I thought.

"We have to call you something though. So... What?"

"Connie." I said. "And you are..."

"One of us is Fred and one of us is George." Said the one to my right. I decided to play along with their joking and turned to my left.

"Well you look more like a Fred." I pointed to the boy on the left and smiled, which is something I didn't do very often. Maybe these two would be good for me.

"Sorry, I'm George."

"No, I'm George." I turned to the boy on my right, who was smiling widely.

"No, you are just not Fred." and the conversation continued like that. Watching this was like watching a muggle tennis match (which I did know how to play much to my parent's distain).

"Are you trying to confuse me?" I said and they both nodded. "Right. So which of you is Fred?"

"That would be telling." The boy to my right tapped his nose. Just then another red head leant across the table, I could only assume he was the twins brother.

"The one to your left is Fred." He said simply. "You are lucky that he has got that small scratch on his face." I looked to my left and there was a little scratch diagonally across his face.

"Aww Percy did you have to ruin our fun." Cried the other twin who by process of elimination must be George. Percy shook his head and looked at me.

"I should warn you that they are always like this and it is normally impossible to tell them apart. You are lucky that Fred got scratched by our little brother's rat." Percy sounded so formal and boring in a way that actually reminded me of my father. I grimaced at the thought.

"That is alright." I said smiling again (for the fifth or sixth time in one night, I think that is a personal record. "It will be nice to have a bit of joking around in my life." Fred and George looked victoriously at Percy who shrugged his shoulders and looked back down at his dinner.

"Suit yourself." He muttered.

As dinner went on Fred, George and I engaged in irrelevant conversation. I found out that as Fred and George had three older brothers, one younger brother who was a second year, and the one whose rat was responsible for the scratch on Fred's face, and a younger sister who had started this year and had just been sorted into Gryffindor like everyone else in their family.

When it came to the end of the meal, Percy was told to take all of the Gryffindor first years to their common room. I was going to have to go with him too but thankfully Fred and George saved me from his, what I would imagine to be, very boring tour.

"Aww come on Percy, she is old enough to make her learn her own way around." Said George as the plates were cleared.

"And besides, we can show her around, we are in most of the same classes by the sounds of things." Fred joined in.

"I don't think..." Percy began.

"I will be fine." I said quickly before he could give another excuse. He shrugged his shoulders in defeat and turned to leave the room.

"First year Gryffindors follow me." He called as he walked. I watched the great hall clear of students. This building was so much more magnificent than my then my old school. It was just bigger and grander.

"Are you just going to stand here staring or are we going to go?" Asked the twins. Before I had a chance to answer they each had a hold on one of my arms and began pulling me out into the corridor.

"So Connie, you never told us about your family." Said Fred as we wandered down the corridor. I swallowed down a lump in my throat; I should have expected this to come up soon.

"That is because there isn't much to tell." I lied, trying to keep my voice steady.

"We don't believe that." Said the twins in unison.

"Don't you have any siblings?" Asked George. I winced slightly as I remembered Evangeline, my twin sister who had died a year ago. She was my only anchor to home, the only person I had ever felt close to.

"No." I said, _'not anymore.' _I added in my mind.

"What about your parents?"

"You want the truth?" I asked turning suddenly to face them. They both stepped back in shock but nodded anyway.

"I ran away from home." My tone was harsher than intended. "I have no family."

"Why did you do that?" They asked together. I sighed.

"You know, I don't really think I know you well enough to tell you this yet." I said sadly and looked pleadingly to them to drop the conversation. They nodded in understanding and continued to walk.

The rest of the journey to the common room was done in silence. I didn't want to say anything which Fred and George respected and when we got there I went straight up to my dormitory to bed.

I didn't even bother to get to know my new roommates.

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**So there you have it, chapter one.**

**Updates will be as regular as possible but will most likely be once per week, as soon as I have written the chapter I will post it. :)**

**Please review. I need to know what you all are thinking about this story. **

**Beth :) x**


	2. Lessons Begin

**Well I am actually quite proud of myself for how quickly I have written this chapter. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP, do own Constance 'Connie' Younger.**

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Chapter 2 – Lessons Begin

I had actually gotten off the sleep reasonably easily and before I even knew it morning had arrived. I woke up to the sound of talking. I sat up and pulled at the curtain around my bed to see three girls sitting on the bed next to mine chatting very animatedly about something.

"Does it really matter Katie?" Said another girl sitting on a separate bed staring down at a book. She, like me, had curly hair but that was the extent of our physical similarities. Her hair was light blonde and had been cut so that it stopped just below her chin. Her skin was pale but completely blemishless and some glasses sat on the bridge of her nose. She was the only one in the room dressed in her school uniform and it hung loosely off her shoulders like she didn't care about how it looked.

One of the other girls with mid-length straight brown hair looked away from her friends to the girl in the corner. "Yes Lacy." She snapped. "It does matter."

I opened the curtain a bit further and the bed creaked. In that moment any conversations they had been having were forgotten and all eyes were on me. "Hi." I said lightly in an attempt to ease some of the tension. "Sorry I didn't really get to know anyone last night. I was kind of tired." I forced a smile.

A smile broke across three of the girl's faces but the girl in the corner just looked back down at her book. "That is ok." Said one of them. "I'm Angelina Johnson." I smiled at her (genuinely this time), grateful that somebody aside from me had decided to speak. "This is Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet." She gestured to the girls on either side of her who both smiled. "And that grumpy thing in the corner is Lacy Green." Lacy didn't even look up. I nodded, absorbing the information and hoping I wouldn't have forgotten all of their names by breakfast.

"I'm Connie." I said. "Your new roommate. But of course that was obvious."

"So you are a fourth year as well?" Asked Alicia.

"Yeh, just moved here from Ireland and Dumbledore offered me a position here to save me travelling across sea to my old school." I was surprised how easily the lie slipped off my tongue. I stood up and pulled my trunk out from under my bed to search for my school uniform.

"I saw you were talking to the Weasley twins last night." Said Angelina suddenly.

"More like they were talking to me." I replied, not looking up from my suitcase. _Where was my tie? _"They seem ok." Finally I found my tie and added it to my pile of uniform and toiletries. "Mind if I use the bathroom?" I asked.

"Na, we have already used it." Said Katie. I nodded and began my routine of getting ready for the day ahead.

XXXX

"I think we should warn you." Said Angelia on the way to breakfast. "Lacy isn't very fun." I laughed.

"I kind of guessed that. Everything about her screamed BORING."

"You got that right. If you want to have fun then it is us you should come to." Alicia said with a wide smile. It felt strange walking down the corridor with these three girls talking about everyday things. I hadn't had that since my sister Evie had died. At school we had only had each other and when she was gone, I was alone. But now with three possible friends around me I felt as though my life may actually become something reasonably normal. I couldn't help smiling at the thought.

During breakfast I was introduced to Lee Jordan and I have to say that his hair was awesome. Fred and George decided to greet me by making me jump as well and I almost spilt pumpkin juice everywhere.

"That was harsh guys." I said as they sat down either side of me again.

"Hey, it's not our fault you are so jumpy." Said Fred, he leaned forward to grab a slice of toast from the plate in front of us.

"Good holidays guys?" Asked Lee as he stabbed his egg with a fork.

"Yeh it was good, never guess what we did the other night though." Said George.

"What did you do the other night?" Asked Angelina before Lee could say anything.

"I am supposed to guess." Lee muttered and nudged her in the side.

"Oh come on Lee. We all know you will waste time and bore us with your ridiculous suggestions and they will just end up having to tell us in the end." Laughed Katie.

"Fine." Lee rolled his eyes. "What did you do?"

"We drove our father's flying car to Surrey..." Began Fred,

"And saved Harry Potter from those horrible muggles he lives with." Finished George. I drew in a sudden breath and began to choke on my bacon. They knew Harry Potter. The boy I had been brought up to hate.

"Yeh right." Laughed Lee.

"It's true, you can ask him yourself." Said George.

"Harry Potter?" I choked out and reached for my pumpkin juice.

"Yeh, you do know who he is don't you?" I nodded.

"Of course I know who he is. I'm from Ireland, not the north pole." I stated.

"Why the North Pole?" Asked Alicia.

"Well, you know, somewhere far away and isolated." I said more quietly.

This conversation continued a little longer and in the end Fred and George actually called Harry over from further down the table to confirm that their story was in fact true. Harry seemed rather nice to me, I don't know what my parents were talking about when they said he wasn't. _But when have I ever listened to my parents anyway?_

"Defence against the dark arts first." Stated Alicia, looking down at her timetable. "I can't believe we have Gilderoy Lockhart teaching us this year."

"Oh I know. He is so... I don't even think there is a word for it." Katie cooed. "Don't you think Connie?"

"Who?" I asked, completely unaware of who he was. The three girls stopped in their path and stared at me with open mouths. Behind me I could hear the twins and Fred snickering quietly.

"You don't know who Gilderoy Lockhart is?" Angelina said way slower than was necessary. I shook my head. "But he is world famous!" I shrugged my shoulders. Back at home I had never really had time for celebrity gossip and things. I never read the newspaper or watched to news and to be honest I didn't really care. What makes a celebrity so much more special than anybody else?

"No, I guess I just don't..." I never did finish my sentence.

Angelina and Alicia had grabbed my arms and started to pull me down the corridor saying things like, "Just wait until you see him." "He has got the nicest smile." and "His hair is so perfect." I looked at the boys for help but they were too busy pissing themselves with laughter to notice.

XXXX

I was dragged as close to the front of the classroom as possible. I took a seat with the girls sat to my left and the boys just behind me. Just as the last few students filled in at the back and took their seats our Lockhart made his entrance. The door of his office opened suddenly and he stepped out and, making sure to bow dramatically beforehand, began his descent down the small staircase. He was smiling and waving as us as if he were walking down the red carpet. He had this ridiculous pompous hairstyle with a quiff at the front.

"Oooh, isn't he gorgeous." Katie whispered.

"No." I said bluntly. The three girls looked at me in utter shock. "What, there is nothing special about him at all." At least that is what I thought before I heard him speak.

"Aren't you lucky," He began, "to have me as your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

"Oh my god, he is so full off himself." I bit back laughter.

"Annoying isn't it." Muttered the twins together and I nodded in agreement.

I looked around to see almost every girl in the room nodding staring intently at him. "Now for this lesson I have prepared a little quiz for you, just to see how well you have read my books. Everyone of my students will be getting it." He smiled again and with a wave of his wand a small stack of parchment appeared in front of each person.

"A small quiz?" Lee muttered in disbelief. "There must be at least a hundred questions here." He quietly groaned.

"You have one hour and I expect this task to be done in silence." Lockhart said with another stupidly white smile. "Begin."

I looked down at the paper and began to read through the questions, I was expecting them to be at least somewhat related to the subject but no. Instead we had a collection of questions about the one and only pompous of the year who just happened to be our DADA professor. "This is pathetic." I whispered and the boys nodded in agreement. The girls on the other hand cast a look my way before beginning to write.

"Why should I care what his owl is called or what year he published his autobiography?" Lee shook his head. "We will be lucky if we learn anything this year."

"I said silence during this task." Lockhart's voice echoed through the classroom. I raised my hand. "Yes, Miss Younger isn't it?"

"Hey, he knows your name, I'm so jealous." Alicia whispered but I ignored her.

"Yes sir, Connie Younger." I paused for breath and opened my mouth to ask my question but he interrupted me.

"I'm sorry but I will not be signing books until after the lesson." Lockhart said. I hated him already and I had known him for all of about ten minutes.

"That isn't what I was going to ask sir." I said trying to hide the annoyance building in my tone.

"Then what is it?" There was that smile again. "Do you want a photo with me because that will have to wait too."

"No. I was just wondering what this had to do with the curriculum." I asked and held up the papers to show him what I meant.

"My dear, it has everything to do with the curriculum." He answered without answering.

"It what way? How does it teach us how to defend ourselves which, by the way, is what this subject is all about?" I snapped a little harsher than I had intended. Of all subjects this was the most important to me and with his assistance I was likely to fail. Lockhart stood up and walked over to my desk.

"Before teaching you the important things, I need to know how well you have read my books." He said with each step.

"Then ask us the important stuff. Not what date you autobiography was published or what your favourite colour is." I argued, this guy needed to be brought down a peg or two.

"This stuff is important." He said weakly.

"How? Oh I know, if I ever get attacked then I will tell them that your favourite colour is red shall I? That will save me!" I heard Fred, George and Lee laugh next to me.

"It's not red its..." Lockhart began to correct me.

"I don't care. Who does?" I raised my voice a little.

"I do." Angelina raised her hand.

I turned to look at her briefly but dropped it and rolled my eyes.

"That is enough. Miss Younger, if you would step outside for the remainder of the lesson and you will join me in detention tonight for your lack of respect." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'd be happy to sir. I will probably learn more out there than I will in here. I began to leave the room and winked subtly to the boys who were doing all they could to not burst out laughing. As I reached the corridor I turned back to sir. "You better have some more decent lessons planned or else you will be dealing with this for the rest of the year." And with a bow I left the room.

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**Well, just then I used Connie to say what I have always wanted to say to Lockhart and I feel quite good about it!**

**Hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.**

**Review! :)x**


	3. Detention

**Ok, I know this chapter is much shorter than the other two but the fact that it is up today feels pretty good.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own HP, do own Constance 'Connie' and anything related to her. (This disclaimer applies to all chapters that follow)**

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Chapter 3 – Detention

After the lesson had ended the door opened and students poured out. I received thumbs up from half of the guys and evil stared from the girls. I had to laugh. Before anybody could say anything to me I was called back into the classroom by Lockhart.

To sum up the conversation we had, he gave me detention I called him an arrogant twit which didn't settle too well with him. When I was dismissed I gave him an innocent smile and closed the door behind me. Only then did I realise I had no idea what part of the castle I was in and how to get to my next lesson. I vaguely remembered coming from the left corridor so I followed my instinct and bumped straight into Fred and George who just began laughing when they saw me.

"Well done Connie!" They congratulated me in unison. I smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

"He had it coming to him." I said back. "How come you are still here?"

"Figured you could use a guide to get you to your next lesson." Said George with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh thanks guys." I smiled. "You were right."

"So when is your detention?"

"Six tonight in his office." I answered simply. "Should be interesting."

And it was...

I managed to get myself to his office without anybody's help which I was pretty proud of and I arrived on time.

I only knocked once on his door before I was granted entry. His office was even worse than the classroom! Pictures of him littered the walls and smile at me as I close the door. I had to fight to hide the shudder upon seeing this.

"Ahhh, Constance." He smiled. I pulled my hand into a tight fist at the use of my full name. "Take a seat." I walked slowly to the chair opposite him and sat, I didn't make eye contact.

"What will you have me do sir?" I asked, my voice filled with sarcasm. "Lines?"

"No, you will be cleaning my picture frames." He said smiling again. God, could his teeth be more unnaturally bright? I bet they would glow in the dark.

"Are you serious? There are more than a hundred!" I exclaimed.

"Well any less would hardly be appropriate given my brilliance."

"Brilliance?" I laughed. "So you wrote a few crappy books about a load of shit that half the world's population couldn't give a fuck about! That doesn't make you brilliant." I internally congratulated myself for having the courage to say that to him.

"Do you know why you are here Mrs Younger?" He asked, ignoring my comment. I shrugged my shoulders. "Because you need to learn to respect a celebrity." I rolled my eyes.

"Writing a book doesn't make you a celebrity." I muttered and grabbed the cleaning equipment he had lifted up onto his desk. "At least not in my eyes."

He didn't say anything after that (unless you count his constant muttering about how he was brilliant and wonderful and God's gift to women, I couldn't help but laugh). By the time I had actually finished the last frame it was 11:00 and I had missed dinner so I was severally pissed off. "I hope this has helped you to learn your lesson." He took the equipment from me and smiled again. I forced a smile in response. "Goodnight Constance." I said nothing and left the room brusquely.

XXXX

"Where have you been?" Asked the twins together as I entered the common room and collapsed onto the closest chair.

"Where do you think?" I moaned, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. "Oh God I am so hungry."

"I'm on it." Fred said before standing up, lucking some parchment in his pocket and leaving the room. I watched him leave and turned to his brother.

"Where has he gone?"

"Most likely to raid the kitchens for you." Replied George who came and sat next to me. "Anyone who stands up to Lockhart like that does not deserve to be hungry." I laughed.

"Don't think my roommates will like me much tomorrow though, they didn't talk to me after the lesson this morning. Well, unless you include Lacy who also congratulated me."

"They will get over it. Just make out that you did it for them." I looked at him quizzically.

"How does that work?"

"Tell them that you didn't want him to pay you any attention so that he could give them more. They will love you forever then." George shrugged his shoulders like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Like the logic." I muttered. "You seem to understand how a girls mind works better than mine."

"But you are a girl." He pointed out.

"Yeh but me and my sister were never quite on the same wavelength as the rest of the female population." I said and then closed my eyes tight shut in annoyance at what I had just said. I just felt so relaxed and natural around George that it just came out.

"Your sister?" He asked. "I thought you said you didn't have a sister." I looked across to him. He had brown eyes, I hadn't noticed that before.

"I don't." I said slowly.

"But you just said..." A frown appeared across his forehead. "What?

"I don't have a sister... anymore." I said again. Memories of Evie's death drifted through my mind. My hand instinctively moved up to caress the locket hanging around my neck as it did whenever I thought of her.

"She died?" I nodded.

"One year ago." I lone tear escaped my eyes and ran down my cheek. Was I actually about to talk about Evangeline to someone, and of all people, a boy I had known for only a day?

"I'm back." Called Fred's voice from the portrait hole behind us. I pulled down my sleeve and brusquely wiped away the tears that were still forming. George looked at me with sympathy before turning to his brother.

"What ya got Fred?" He asked.

"Cake." Fred replied simply and dumped a mound of cupcakes onto the coffee table. I smiled and reached forward and grabbed the one closest to me.

Only when the clock struck midnight and the cakes were finished did we decide to go on up to bed. George seemed to have forgotten about our earlier talk but I hadn't. Evie stayed in my thoughts for every moment. God I missed her. Even when Fred and George said their goodnight to me in unison it reminded me of her. That was exactly the sort of thing we used to do. In fact, the twins in general reminded me of our relationship. They were so close, like best friends. They understood each other and they had each other's backs. I sighed and climbed the staircase to the dorm rooms.

I crept into the bedroom as quietly as possible in an attempt to not wake anyone and began towards the bathroom.

When I was done undressing and my teeth were brushed I crept back out of the bathroom and into my bed where I thought of the conversation that had almost took place downstairs. It probably would do me some good to talk to someone about it. I had never felt comfortable at home to talk about it with anyone but here was different.

Silent sobs wracked through me as I gave into the pressure to cry that had been building inside me. I couldn't tell anyone what I had gone through, it would make me cry and if anyone saw me crying I would be automatically labelled as weak. That is what I was always brought up to believe.

I couldn't tell anyone.

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**Ok, I know. the ending was a bit sad but she has had a hard time in her life. Now it is just up to a certain someone to give her happiness. :) x**


	4. Quidditch Practice

Chapter 4 – Quidditch Practice

I had been a student at Hogwarts for a week now. George had been right about what to say to the girls and I had a good friendship growing with all of them (including Lacy who seemed to like slagging Lockhart off with me while the others weren't around). Lee, Fred and George were also becoming pretty good friends although for some reason I felt especially close to George. He didn't mention again what I had began to say the other night which I was grateful for but he did tell me that we could talk if anything was bothering me. I don't even think he told Fred what we spoke about which surprised me a little because I assumed they told each other everything like Evie and I had.

I sat alone in the common room gazing blankly down at some ancient runes homework in an attempt to understand even a little of it when the girls, Fred and George came down from their dorms dressed head to toe in red quidditch outfits. They were all one the team and it was their first group practice today.

The twins bounded towards me both grinning and launched themselves over the back to the sofa to sit on either side of me.

"Heya Connie." They greeted me together.

"Hey." I replied, closing my textbook and placing it on the table.

"We got practice in a minute; do ya want to come watch?" Asked Angelina from behind.

"Uh... no thank you, I've got a load of homework to do." I lied, I had actually almost finished most of it.

"Can't you do it tomorrow?" Katie asked, I hesitated.

"Are you ok Connie?" Asked George. I decided that I might as well be honest with them. I raised my hand to my locket and began twiddling it with my fingers.

"I just... don't really like quidditch." I muttered. A collective gasp all around me... except for George who had his eyes locked onto my locket.

"You don't like Quidditch?" Alicia said slowly and I shook my head. "Why not?"

"I um..." I paused trying to think of a believable lie.

"Does it really matter guys?" George said suddenly, tearing his eyes from my locket and looking at everyone individually. "So she doesn't enjoy the sport, so what. Everyone is aloud an opinion." I managed a light smile at George for sticking up for me. He glanced sympathetically in my direction.

When nobody said anything George stood up. "Shall we go then? Wood hates it when we are late." There was a murmur of agreement as the Gryffindor team began to leave.

When George walked round behind the sofa he leant forward and pulled a mass of my frizzy hair away from my left ear. I could feel his lips moving as he whispered something before he pulled away, offered me another smile and left the room after the others.

I only wish I knew what he had said just then. Due to problems during my mother's pregnancy I had been born in quite an unhealthy state. Evie had ended up getting a lot more nutrients than me and was born at normal size and weight whereas I was very under weight and weak. I had also been born with a deformity inside my left ear causing me to be deaf in that side. The healers did all that they could to fix the problem but they were unsuccessful.

Now I had just grown used to the fact that I had no hearing in my left ear and it didn't usually bother me, it's not like you can see that there is anything wrong, but in this case it did bother me. What had George said to me just then?

I found myself thinking of this a lot over the next fifteen minutes before they all returned. The girls went straight back up to our dorm room but Fred and George stayed down and sat on the chair in front of me.

"That was a short practice." I stated upon their arrival. "What happened?"

"Ron started throwing up slugs." Fred replied.

"Ron is your younger brother right, in his second year?" I had to check, they had so many siblings I found it hard to keep track.

"That's the one." George answered. "He tried to curse Draco Malfoy but the spell backfired."

"Malfoy?!" I exclaimed. Shit, I didn't know a Malfoy came here.

"Yeh, he is in the same year as Ron, do you know him?"

"Just his family." I said shakily. "They are not nice people." I wasn't going to tell them but my parents were quite good friends with the Malfoys due to a 'shared interest' they had. You can most likely guess what. I hadn't personally been in contact with the Malfoys for a few years but I was still grateful that I hadn't seen Draco in school so far (although it had only been a week). He probably wouldn't even recognise me if he did see me. I am not exactly a memorable person.

"You're right, if it wasn't for Malfoy our little brother wouldn't be throwing up slugs and Ron's friend Hermione wouldn't be crying like she was last I saw." Fred said, breaking me from my train of thought.

"What did he do to Hermione?"

"Called her a Mudblood." Fred spat out the words. "That is why Ron tried to curse him." He turned to his brother then, "I am going to go change out of these robes. Then I should probably write that essay for McGonagall."

"I have actually done that one." Said George. "Not like me to have homework done so soon is it?"

Fred laughed and got up to leave the room. George stood too but instead of following Fred up the stairs he came and sat to my right.

"Are you ok?" He asked with a soft voice, one that I was not used to hearing from him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I said, trying to put humour in my tone unsuccessfully.

"I saw the look on your face before we went to practice earlier." He said kindly, "I said we would talk about this later just before I left." _So that is what he had whispered to me._ I looked down and felt my hand rise to my locket once again. George dropped his voice, "This is about your sister isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head.

"Why not? It could help."

"Because I was brought up to believe that showing emotions was a sign of weakness," I muttered. "And I just know that if I talk about her I will end up crying."

"No offence, but you sound like the Malfoys. I think that showing your emotions is a sign of strength." He said softly. "Why don't you try it?"

I only thought for a moment before nodding. "It's a long story." I warned him.

"I have all day." George said. "And if Fred comes back down then I can just tell him to bugger of so we can continue talking." He laughed.

"Ok then, I will tell you... and maybe afterwards you will understand just why I sounded like a Malfoy."

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**And that was chapter four. :) Next chapter is all about Evangeline. **

**Do you think George will be able to help Connie? (I do)**

**Thank you for reading... Please review :) x**


	5. The Truth About Evangeline

**I know this one took longer to update than the others have so far but I did warn you. If you want to blame someone, blame my teachers at college for giving me so much homework. :) **

**I will admit that I cried a bit while writing the beginning of this chapter because it is about Evie but it does get happier later on.**

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Chapter 5 – The Truth About Evangeline

"Her name was Evangeline." I began after a few deep breaths. "But like me, she hated the name our parents gave so she insisted on being called Evie."

"That's is a nice name." George offered me and encouraging smile.

"She was my identical twin, born just ten minutes before myself." I smiled as I remembered her and I stroked my locket with my thumb. "We were so close." I stared into the flames flickering in the fireplace. "At least as close as you and Fred now." I tore my gaze from the flames to look at George in the eyes. They reflected sadness and I could just tell that he was imagining what it would be like to lose Fred.

"That is a loss that I can only imagine." He muttered.

"Last year we were playing quidditch together. It was one of the few things we could do together that would get us away from our parents. It was only the two of us." I drew in a deep breath and felt tears begin to form. "Evie was hit in the head by a bludger and the fell from her broom. I knew no spell to stop her from hitting the ground sixty feet below so I could only watch and... as you can imagine... she died instantly." By now tears were rolling down my cheeks.

"I can understand why you would hate quidditch." George said softly, and he reached forward and wiped away a tear with his thumb. At his touch I shuddered slightly, I don't know why but I did. It was something I had never experienced before. Thankfully I don't think he noticed.

"Why are you being so kind to me?" I whispered. A frown creased Georges brow.

"Well, I'm your friend." He said sweetly. "Why wouldn't I be kind to you?"

"Nobody ever showed me kindness during my childhood, especially my parents. Me and Evie had only each other. It feels strange now, to think that I have friends. I mean, aside from you and Fred I also have Lee and the Girls. I'm not used to it." I forced a smile into my expression.

George leaned forwards."Tell me about your parents Connie."

"There isn't really very much to tell." I stuttered.

"I think there is." He leaned forward and brushed a frizzy strand of hair back. "Tell me."

I sighed. "Ok, I just ask that you don't judge me by my parents. I'm not like them... and nor was Evie."

"Why would I..."

"My parents are death eaters." I said quickly.

"Death Eaters? You mean, supporters of You-Know-Who?" I nodded.

"From a very young age Evie and I knew that what they were teaching us was wrong. We even actively rebelled. Both of us for example, took pleasure in reading muggle stories when we were younger and as we grew older we began to play tennis."

"Tennis?"

"Yes, it is a muggle ball game. It is very fun, I will have to show you sometime." I smiled a little, though it was genuine.

"That would be good." He smiled.

"But back onto the subject of my parents, they used to beat Evie and I if we didn't comply with their requests. That is why, after Evie... you know, I decided that I couldn't handle it anymore and so I wrote a letter to Dumbledore asking for a sanctuary here at Hogwarts. I am so grateful that he accepted, if he didn't, well I don't know if I would still be alive today." I looked away from George.

"You mean, you were going to commit..."

"Suicide, yes." I shrugged my shoulders; it is not like I was still considering it. "Don't worry though, I have no intention of carrying it out anymore. Although sometimes I do wish that it was I who had died instead of my sister and then I remind myself that I would not want her to go through the pain I have. Nobody should lose a twin."

"You're right." George touched my chin gently with his finger and turned me to face him. "I couldn't imagine how I would feel if I lost Fred."

"I didn't know you could be so serious." I muttered. I could feel myself moving closer to George. It was an involuntary motion, almost like I was being drawn to him.

"You thought I was just a joker?" He raised an eyebrow. Our faces were merely an inch apart now.

"No, I knew there was something more. I just didn't know what." I whispered and in that moment we cleared the gap between us and our lips touched. At first, neither of us did anything out of shock but then he began to move his lips and responded gingerly. I had never kissed another before but something about this felt right. And then I remembered that I had only known this guy a week, how could this be right? I pulled away suddenly.

"Um, I'm sorry I don't really know what happened." Confusion spread through me. I had defiantly felt something just then

"No, I don't know either." I was relieved to see that George looked just as confused as I felt. I opened my mouth to say something else but a voice from behind us stopped me.

"What don't you know?" George and I turned to see Fred standing at the bottom of the stairs to the boy's dorm.

"Hey Fred," Greeted George with a smile. "How long have you been there?" That was a good question, how much had he just seen? Had he seen us kiss?

"Just got down." Said Fred walking forwards, he had changed out of his quidditch robes like he said he would and was now wearing a red jumper and jeans. "That is why I asked what you don't know, I thought maybe I could help." He wandered round the sofa and sat between George and I. I bit my lip.

"I don't think this is really the sort of problem you can help with." I said and tried unsuccessfully to keep my voice steady.

"Is everything ok Connie?" I mashed my lips together and nodded.

"I'm fine."

"Really cus you don't sound it."

"Yeh, she was just telling me how annoyed she was at Lockhart." George interjected and I nodded eagerly. That was a good and believable excuse.

"Oh right." Fred nodded.

"Um, I think I am going to go upstairs for a bit." I said, and stood up. Both twins offered me a smile which I returned (or tried to) before going up the stair to my dorm room.

XXXX

"Hey guys what are you talking about?" I asked the girls when I opened the door to my dorm room and wandered over to my bed.

"Boys." Sighed Lacy. "Do they ever talk about anything else?"

"Oh shut up Lacy, you can be so boring." Alicia called.

"At least I am down to earth and think about important things." Lacy rolled her eyes and continued to write whatever she was writing.

"You mean boring things." Said Katie causing the other two to laugh, and then they all turned to me. "So Connie."

"I don't like the sound of that 'so Connie'" I complained.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" _I was right to not like the sound of it._

"I am afraid I would have to say no." I answered pointedly without making eye contact with any of them.

"Then have you ever kissed anyone?" I could see from the corner of my eye that all eyes were on me. Should I answer this honestly? I didn't see why not, it isn't like they had to know who.

"Yes."

"When?" Asked Katie.

"Somewhat recently." I replied, trying to be vague.

"Do we know him?" Alicia asked.

"No." I lied. "He lives back in Ireland."

"Well was he good looking?" Angelina asked.

"Does it really matter?" Asked Lacy.

"YES!" Replied all of the girls together, before turning back to me.

"I would say so." I replied, thinking of George's gorgeous brown eyes and the mischievous smile.

"Do you like him?"

"Yeh, he is great."

"Do you love him?"

"Honestly, I don't know." But something inside me was screaming yes.

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**So, could this be love? **

**Please leave a review, thank you everyone who has so far. :) x**


	6. Time to Talk

**Okey Dokey Chapter 6 is here for you! Now I thought that since the last chapter was quite sad I would put a happier one up this time around. I hope you like it.**

**Just wanted too add as well (after someone messaged me about it) that I know Katie is supposed to be in the year below Fred, George, Angelina etc but I decided to change it slightly because it worked better for me under these circumstances.**

**Disclaimer: Don't Own Harry Potter, Do own Connie, Evie and Lacy. :) x**

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Chapter 6 – Time to Talk

Another week passed after the kiss I shared with George and we hadn't talked much since then. I had been sort of avoiding him while I worked out what it was that I was feeling and I got the impression that he was avoiding me too.

We did have one moment the day after when we had talked but all he really said was that my secrets were safe with him and this was followed closely by an awkward silence before we walked away from each other.

Now, I was sitting in the common room reading a book about the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament in an attempt to get my mind off those things. The combination of the book and some every flavour beans was doing the trick as well. At least it was until Angelina came and sat next to me.

"Are you ok Connie?" She asked and I looked up from my book to her.

"Yes." I said slowly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Do you really think I am stupid enough not to notice the distancing between you and George." She said. "You can't even be in the same room together."

"You really noticed." I sighed.

"Yeh, I did and I may not have been your friend for very long but it isn't nice seeing you so distant." I smiled at her kindness.

"Thanks Angelina, you are a good friend. But I don't want to talk about it."

"That isn't what I am asking." She grinned. "Alicia, Katie and I have something planned to take your mind off whatever it is completely."

"You do? What is it?" I cocked my head to the side in curiosity.

"That would be telling." She said standing up. "Follow me." I did without hesitation as she led me along corridors and around corners until we stopped outside a classroom. Another smile grew on her face.

"I'm confused." I stated. "Do you just want me to go in there?"

She nodded. "Yeh, everything is set up."

"Ok." I turned to open the door.

"Wait." She said suddenly. "Give me a hug first."

"Um, why?"

"For luck. In hope that this helps you feel better." I shrugged my shoulders and took a step forward. She wrapped her arms around me for a moment and then let go and smiles once again. "I know this is going to help." She said before opening the door and shoving me inside.

I looked briefly around the room, not really focusing on any specific thing until my gaze stopped and met the eyes of a certain ginger haired Weasley twin.

"George!" I gasped. "W-w-what are you doing here?" I backed up towards the door and fumbled around for the handle.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said. I tried the turn the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh god, the door is locked." I muttered and turned to face the door. "Angelina! Let me out!" I screamed, banging on the door.

"No. You two need to fix whatever happened between you and this is the only way to get you two together." She replied through the door. I huffed and then an idea came to me.

"You know I can just cast an unlocking spell." I shouted back and reached for my wand in my pocket.

"Not without your wand you can't." She called back. I growled and punched the door.

"Ow!" I winced upon contact. _Now I have a broken hand!_

"I will be back in an hour when you two have sorted yourselves out." She called through the door. I sighed and turned to face George who was leaning casually against the wall.

"Hi." I muttered.

"Hi." He replied.

"What lie did they tell you?" I asked him in an attempt to break the tension.

"They didn't tell me a lie." He answered. "I agreed to this."

"You did?" He nodded. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt about what I had just done. "I am sorry." I whispered. "I understand how that must have looked just then but it isn't what you might think. I just..."

"Don't worry about it." He interrupted. "I understand. Until a few hours ago I was thinking the same thing but then I realised that it is stupid to avoid each other over a kiss. It doesn't have to mean anything." He smiled and I felt my heart sink just a tiny bit.

"What if I want it to mean something?" I muttered, not making eye contact with him. I heard George step forward and he reached for my non injured hand.

"Then I would have to say I agree with you." He said softly.

"But you just said the kiss didn't have to mean anything."

"I only said that because I didn't want to risk losing a friendship if you didn't feel the same way. I like you." I smiled at this.

"I like you too George." And then we were hugging.

"That's good to hear." He whispered (thankfully into my good ear). He reached his free hand down and took mine. I winced.

"Ouch!" I whimpered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot about that."

"It's ok, I think it is broken though." I said, cradling it to my chest.

"Let me see." He reached down and took my hand gently in his, I winced slightly. "I think you are right." I laughed.

"You didn't even look properly."

"Well what do I know? I am just a fourth year." He kissed my lightly on the forehead.

"No, I think you are more than that." I replied. I know that I had only known him for a short time but I could tell for certain that there was something special about this guy. I didn't yet know if it was love but it was something that I knew I needed to explore more.

"I am?" He smiled.

"Yeh." I tucked a bunch of hair behind an ear so that I could see him properly. "You are like the only person I can trust with some things and you know about my family life so yes, you are more than any regular fourth year." I stroked his cheek. "But, having said that... I don't really know anything about your family. Apart from that it is big." He laughed.

"It is rather big."

"Tell me about it... please."

And he did. He told me about all six of his siblings and what it was like growing up in a loving family. I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous that he had parents that cared but I shoved the feeling aside.

Just as he finished his story Angelina's voice came from the other side of the door. "Are you friends yet?"

"You could say that." I called back causing George to laugh. We both stood up from our place on the floor and wandered towards the door, hand in hand. I heard the lock click and the door opened to reveal a smiling Angelina and Fred who both looked down at our interlocking fingers.

"That looks like a bit more than friendship." Fred grinned, I felt my cheeks flush red.

"Can I have my wand back?" I asked Angelina before she could say anything.

"Uh, yes... here." She reached into a pocket and handed to me.

"What happened to your hand?" I followed her gaze.

"Oh, I kinda broke it when I punched the door and now it is all swollen. I think I should go to the hospital wing." I began to walk down the corridor before stopping and turning. "I don't know the way."

"I will take you." George laughed stepping forward and grabbing my good hand once again. We began down the corridor together and Angelina shouted after us.

"Don't think you are going to get out of telling me what happened in there Connie!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" I shouted back.

XXXX

It turned out that I was right about the broken hand but thankfully Madam Pomphrey was able to fix it no problem.

After my hand was fixed we went off to dinner and George and I told the others the news that we were together and answered all of the questions shot in our direction. (Well, most of them).

It was only after dinner that we got caught up in this huge commotion in the corridor. I couldn't see what was going on to start with but I fought my way to the front of the group and my gaze settled on twelve words written across the wall in scarlet.

_THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED! ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE!_

I had heard of this before. I remembered my parents telling me about it. My heart began to race.

"Oh shit." I muttered turning and forcing myself back through the crowd of students. Someone caught my wrist and I jumped.

"Connie what is it?" George asked but before I could answer I began to feel dizzy and collapsed into a heap.

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**Slightly dramatic ending I know but all will be explained in the next chapter.**

**Thank you reviewers, favoriters and alerters!**

**A review would be great if you think I am worthy :)x**


	7. Chamber of Secrets

**Just to warn you all, I was writing this just as my seven year old step-brother decided to have the tantrum of the centuary so if it is not so good at the start, I am sorry. Blame him :)x**

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Chapter 7 – The Chamber of Secrets

When my consciousness returned to me the first thing I noticed was that I was in somebody's arms and they were walking.

I cracked an eye open a notch to see who it was and relaxed when I saw that it was George.

"Your are awake then." He said when he saw me.

"Yeh."

"Are you going to tell me why you fainted?" I frowned.

"I don't remember." I tried to see past the mental barrier.

"Well you saw that message on the wall and you freaked out." He explained. My eyes widened as I remembered and I tensed up.

"Oh shit, that's right." My sudden reaction clearly took George by surprised because it caused him to drop me. I hit the floor with a hard thud.

"Ow." I moaned.

"Sorry Connie." George said crouching beside me, "I was just surprised." He reached a hand out to help me up.

"It's ok." I replied, slightly shaken. I thought of the words on the wall. "Oh this is not good."

"Are you going to tell me or are you just going to panic by yourself?" I smiled weakly and looked around. There was nobody else so I nodded.

"My parents told me and my sister about the Chamber of Secrets a couple years ago." I whispered."And it has opened again."

"Wait. What is this Chamber of Secrets?"

"It's is a chamber hidden within the castle that only the Heir of Slytherin can get into." I began and only finished explaining when we reached the common room.

"Well now I understand your reaction." He said as we went through the portrait hole.

"Good. If this is really happening then I don't think Hogwarts is safe." I dropped my voice. "Somebody died last time."

"Yeh you said." He frowned and I sighed.

"Look, I need to go to bed ok."

"But it is only eight o'clock."

"I know, but I need to think." Smiled at him and went to kiss him on the cheek. But George being George he moved very quickly at the last minute and I ended up catching him on the lips. I pulled away quickly and felt my cheeks flush red.

"It is so easy to make you blush." He chuckled.

"I just…" He put a finger to my lips to stop me talking.

"Good night Connie." He said backing away.

"Night." I muttered in response.

XXXX

The next few months only confirmed both my suspicions and my fears. As well as Filch's cat, a Gryffindor first year, a Hufflepuff boy and Nearly Headless Nick has all been petrified.

And do you want to hear something utterly ridiculous… most of the school think Harry Potter is the one doing it! I mean, aside from the fact that he is one of the nicest people I know, there is no way he is behind all this. Fred and George agree with me too and take pleasure in laughing at everyone for thinking it. My roommates on the other hand aren't so sure which I will admit really annoys me.

Every night they are whispering amongst themselves wondering who the next victim will be. Even Lacy is getting involved in these talks so I try to spend as little time around them as I can and as much time as I can with Fred, George and Lee.

Every day I grow closer to George. We still haven't said that we actually love each other yet because we want to be sure before we do but I think that day will come soon.

XXXX

There was a Quidditch match going on today so, as usual for me, I decided to stay alone in the common room and read.

About ten minutes after everyone had left for the match I heard the Portrait hole open and one of Harry's Friends stepped in.

"Hey Hermione." I greeted, looking up from my book and folding the corner down. "How come you aren't at the match?"

"I need your help." She replied quickly. "I could do this on my own but I would be quicker with help and seeing as you don't go to the Quidditch games I thought you might be able to."

"Um, ok. What do you need me for?"

"I think I know what the creature in the Chamber of Secrets is." She said. "Can you come to the library and help me research it."

"Sure." I nodded and stood up.

"Ok, just wait here a second." Before I could say anything she dashed up the stairs to the girls dormitories. She came down five minutes later, held up a small silver hand mirror and smiled.

"What is that for?"

"I will explain on the way to the Library."

XXXX

"So you think the creature is a Basilisk?" I confirmed once she had finished explaining.

"Yes, it makes perfect sense, that is why Harry can hear it. He is a parselmouth."

I frowned. "But you said that whoever looks into its eyes will die. That doesn't explain why people are being petrified."

"True, but then I gave it some thought. The people who have been petrified can't have looked directly into its eyes."

"So how…"

"Mrs Norris would have seen the reflection in the water." Hermione interrupted. "And Colin will have seen it through his camera."

"And Sir Nicolas can't die again so he probably did see it directly." I mused.

"I would guess so, that means that Justin saw it through Nick." Hermione smile triumphantly.

"Ok, so what do you need me for?" I asked as we entered the library.

"I just wanted to do some more research to be sure." I nodded and after we had gathered up a small pile of books we took a seat at a table.

Twenty minutes later Hermione prodded me in the side. "Connie, look at this." I looked up from my book to hers. I was right, it was a Basilisk." She pointed at the page.

"I agree."

"I need to show this to Harry and Ron." She looked around. "But I can't check the book out. All of the staff will be at the match." I rolled my eyes, reached out and pulled the page from the book.

"Connie! You can't do that." She cried but I shrugged my shoulders.

"What is more important, a damaged book of the lives of half the people in this school?" She didn't answer. "Exactly my point, now there is just one more thing we need to work out before we go."

"What?"

"How is it getting around the school?"

"Well, Harry says he can hear it in the walls so that means it could be…"

"In the pipes?" I said and she nodded. I scribbled the word down on the page and smiled. "Anything else?" She shook her head and stood up.

"No and I would quite like to go and see the rest of the match." I stood up too.

"Enjoy." I muttered. We began to leave when Hermione froze mid stride.

"Do you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" But she didn't answer. Instead she reached into her pocket and pulled out that silver hand mirror. I heard it then, a faint hissing sound. It sounded like a busted pipe but I knew better.

I peered over Hermione's shoulder so that I to could get a look in the mirror. I shouldn't be in too much danger since I was of pure blood but it didn't stop me from being scared.

Hermione saw it first, I watched as her skin paled but then I saw it too. In the mirror, two yellow eyes staring back at me. I went to gasp but the air was taken from my lungs before I could do so and I froze, both figuratively and metaphorically.

And then my vision faded to nothing leaving me with only the haunting memory of those eyes as a nightmarish sleep consumed me.

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**Ohhhh Drama. You ahve got to love it! I know I do :)**

**Thank you loyal reviewers! I love you all :)x**

**A few more would be great though!**

**Loving you people :)x**


	8. Un-Petrified

Chapter 8 – Un-petrified

Darkness is a strange thing. Sometimes it is peaceful and sometimes it is filled with nightmares. I had no sense of time while I was in this place. I didn't know how long it would go on for or how long I had been there. I only hoped it would end soon. What is soon in a place like this?

I felt a force pulling me towards a light. It was impossible to resist despite the fact that I tried and then I could see again. I was lying in a bed in what I assumed to be the hospital wing at Hogwarts. I was in no pain when I moved my head to the side and saw Hermione in the bed next to mine. She was sitting up and a Healer was just checking she was ok. When she saw me she smiled.

"Hey Connie." I smiled but I couldn't bring words to my mouth just yet. The healer looked away from her and to me. I couldn't for the life of me remember her name.

"Hermione you are ok." She said. "You can go to the feast now if you want."

"Thank you Madam Pomphrey but I think I am going to wait for Connie." That was her name, I remember now. I had only seen her once before when I had broken my hand.

Madam Pomphrey did a series of checks on me that didn't take too long and then I too was dismissed.

"Can you believe that today is the last day of school, we missed half a year!" Hermione exclaimed when we left the hospital. "We are so behind on our lessons." I laughed.

"Hermione, We have just been petrified. We could have died… and you are worried about your school work." I rolled my eyes. I had never gotten to know this girl properly because she was two years below me but I had already noticed that she was obsessed with her studies. Maybe her and Lacy would get along really well.

"Anyway, how did it feel to you? Being petrified." I asked, changing the subject.

"I don't really know." She replied. "It was strange. Like all of my emotions were running at the same time and then one would be more dominant over the others. Often fear." I nodded in understanding.

"That was the same for me but sometimes it was peaceful too. In an unnerving way. And there was no sense of time." I replied and she smile weakly.

"I bet the others missed us, I hope they were ok." When she said this I thought of George, would he have missed me? Did he visit me in the hospital?

"I am sure they were fine."

XXXX

When we got to the doors of the great hall I drew a deep breath along with Hermione and we began to enter. I only stopped when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Connie?" I turned to see a happy looking Weasley Twin standing alone. Hermione offered me a smile and proceeded into the great hall. "It is good to see you awake." He smiled.

"It is good to be awake." I answered back smiling.

"Aren't you going to give me a hug?" I raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"I will if you tell me where George is." I replied to Fred. A smile broke across his face and I laughed.

"He is in the hall with Lee and the girls." Fred said.

"Thank you." I stepped forward and hugged Fred then before turning and skipping (Yes, I actually skipped) into the great hall to see my boyfriend.

When George saw me my heart did a little back flip and when he stood up and enclosed me in a tight hug I knew without a doubt in my mind that I loved him. "I missed you so much." He whispered into my good ear. I smiled up at him. "I was worried that they wouldn't be able to wake you."

"Well I am ok now." I sighed. "and this is going to sound really insensitive but would you mind letting go of me so I can eat. I haven't eaten anything since being petrified and that is a long time." He laughed, place a light kiss on my lips and sat back down, dragging me down next to him.

I leaned in next to him and whispered, "I hope I get a better kiss than that later when there aren't so many people around." His ears turned red and I let out a laugh. "I will take that as a yes."

After I had taken a few mouthfuls of food we were joined by Fred and the questioning began. How was I petrified? What was I when I was pure blood? What did it feel like?" I answered them all honestly but after about ten questions I had had enough and I interrupted Katie before she could ask another.

"I think that is enough for me today."

"Can I just ask one more question that is completely unrelated?" Fred asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't see why not."

"Just now, how did you know that you were talking to me and not George?" I laughed. I wouldn't say, but initially I had thought it was George but then something just told me it wasn't. I don't know what though.

"You can tell the difference?" Muttered Alicia.

"You can't?" I replied.

"I can." Angelina interjected. "I don't know how but I can."

"I know what you mean. They are just… slightly different." The rest of the meal continued with light hearted conversation. We laughed and joked and I was happy. Dumbledore made a speech and announced the house cup winners (Gryffindor) and then we left the hall.

George and I parted from the others for some time alone then. The moment that nobody was in sight George spun me around and pressed his lips to mine in an urgent kiss. It felt so good. Not like our first one at all. There was no uncertainty in my emotions this time. It felt right.

When the kiss ended he tucked some hair behind my ear and I felt his lips move against it as he said something. "Sorry, what did you say?" I asked.

"You heard me." He smiled.

"No." I shook my head "I didn't."

"How can you not have heard that?" He asked with surprise.

"I am deaf in this ear." I replied gesturing to it. He laughed then. "What is so funny, I am being dead serious."

"You really are aren't you?" I nodded "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I never thought it would be important." I cried. "Please repeat what you just said." I shook his head.

"I don't know if I can. It took a lot of guts to just say it once." He smiled. "I am sure you can guess anyway."

"I want to hear it." I begged.

"Ok… I love you." I smiled and melted into his embrace.

"I love you too."

XXXX

After a while together George asked me a question that I was not expecting and had no idea how to answer. "Where are you going to live this summer?"

"I… don't know." I stuttered. "I can't go home. I won't go home."

"That is what I thought."

"Then why are you smiling George?"

"Because, lucky for you, I thought about this about a week ago and owled my mother about it. You can… if you want… come and stay with me." I gasped.

"Are you sure? That is very generous."

"I'm sure."

"Then I accept." I smiled and kissed him. "Maybe I can teach you how to play tennis."

"I would like that." He replied and touched his lips to mine in another perfect kiss.

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**One maybe two more chapters and then it will be onto the prisoner of azkaban. I think I will start adding other peoples points of view so that there can be other side stories and stuff. **

**Review! :D x**


	9. The Burrow

**Ok... I am sorry that this update took longer than the others but I have been absolutely swamped with school work and stuff. I hope the stuff in this chapter makes up for my absence.**

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Chapter 9 – The Burrow

As you can imagine, the journey on the Hogwarts express was fun and also very interesting. I was going to miss the pointless gossip that the girls talked about over the summer but they made me promise to write to them.

As the train came to a stop I got up off George's lap and reached up to pull my bag down. The others did the same and we all moved to get off of the train.

The station was full of students giving goodbyes to each other as we were some of the last off. I gave a hug to each of the girls and Lee and just before turning to go through the wall I noticed Lee sneak a wink at Alicia.

"Wait a minute." I pointed at then. "Don't think I didn't see that." Both Lee and Alicia wore expressions of fake innocence.

"What did you see?" Angelina asked enthusiastically.

"Lee literally just winked at Alicia." I said in an almost accusing way before turning to them. "Is something going on between you two?" Alicia bit her lower lip and Lee shook his head. "Oh Merlin I am right aren't I." I cried smiling triumphantly. I noticed them hesitating before nodding.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Katie squeaked causing me to laugh slightly.

"Because... it isn't official yet." Alicia muttered.

"Well, let us know when it is." Angelina said before waving and disappearing through the wall.

"Yeh we should go too." said Fred causing George to nod.

"But..." I looked from them to Alicia and Lee. "I need to know more."

"It can wait." George said and before I knew it the twins each had a hold on my wrists and dragged me through the wall to the other side.

I opened my mouth to say something when they let go but they were both enveloped in a hug by a short chubby woman with red hair like theirs. I could only assume that this was their mother.

"Mum this is Connie." George introduced me when she let go of him.

"Hi." I stuck my hand out to shake hands but I too was pulled into a hug which caught me a little off guard. I had never really had an affectionate mother.

"Hello Connie, I have been told a lot about you." She smiled warmly.

"You have?"

"Yes and don't worry, I'm my home you will be as good as family." She squeezed my shoulder before moving to hug Ron and Ginny who had only just appeared. I didn't know what to make of her kindness.

"Don't look so terrified." George muttered, reaching down to hold my hand. "You will be fine."

XXXX

The car ride to The Burrow (that is what George told me to call it) was not what I had hoped it would be.

"Tell me again why Connie is coming to stay with us George." Ron said.

"Because she can't go home." George said simply.

"Why not?" Ginny leant forwards and stuck her head between the seats.

"Does it matter?" George answered back but I rested a hand on his and drew in a breath.

"If I am going to be living with you guys you should at least know the truth." I sighed. "I ran away from home."

"Why?" Ron asked. I closed my eyes and felt George squeeze my hand as a form of support.

"Because they are supporters of you-know-who." A chorus of gasps echoes around me.

"You are going out with a deatheater's daughter." Percy said from the front seat. "You have reached new levels of stupidity George."

"Shut up Percy." George snapped, "You shouldn't judge someone by their parents, do you think if Connie was like them she would have run away from home?" Percy said nothing. "Exactly my point. Don't bring it up again."

For the remainder of the journey we sat mostly in silence and it would have been awkward if I didn't prefer it to our most recent discussion.

XXXX

I was given a room to share with Ginny which thankfully she didn't seem to mind too much and not long after I had unpacked and changed Mrs Weasley called everyone down to dinner.

I dumped my book down onto the mattress on the floor (my bed) and went down to the kitchen where most of the family were already crowded around the dining table. George pulled me down into a seat next to him and an older man (George's father was my guess judging by the red hair) who smiled at me.

"You must be Connie." He said shoving a small potato into his mouth. I nodded. "Well, seeing as you're going to be staying here, tell me something about yourself."

"Um...ok." I thought for a second, trying to think of something interesting about myself to tell. "I have played Tennis for a few years and am really interested in it." To my complete surprise, his eyes lit up.

"Tennis. Isn't that a muggle game?" I nodded.

"What is the daughter of a death eater doing playing a muggle game?" Muttered Percy, I was really starting to hate him. I glared at him.

"I told you before that I am nothing like them." I snapped. "But it still wasn't without its difficulties. I had to sneak away from the manor to do it and often I got away with it seeing as my parents didn't really care where I was but if they ever found out... Well I am sure you can guess the rest." I trailed off.

"Oh." Percy muttered.

"You told him Connie." Fred laughed.

"So... you did lots of muggle things or was it only the... tennis?" Mr Weasley inquired.

"I did quite a lot of muggle things and used a lot of things designed by them. It was to provoke my parents, to show that I am nothing like them." I laughed. "It worked."

"What sort of things?" Wow he was really interested in this stuff. I looked at Mr Weasley.

"Well, I read books written by muggles and I taught myself how to play guitar, a muggle musical instrument, although I'm not very good at it and I played tennis." I put a carrot in my mouth and began to chew.

"So..."

"Ok dad that's enough." George said. "Give her a chance to breathe." I smiled at him and reached for his hand under the table.

XXXX

After dinner George lead me from the table outside into the corn fields. I didn't know why, it was cold and windy and seeing as I was ridiculously skinny I was shivering my ass off.

"Are you cold?" He asked me.

"What do you think?" I muttered through chattering teeth. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me.

"That better?"

"Defiantly." I planted a kiss on his lips and a second later he tackled to the floor. "Hey!" I cried trying to pin him down but of course I was too weak.

"Are you ticklish?" He asked me with an evil grin on his face. I shook my head. "That is funny because I don't believe you." HE tried to tickle me then and I considered laughing for his benefit but didn't. Instead I raised an eyebrow at his hopeless attempt.

"I told you I wasn't." I laughed and rested my head against the ground. He brushed a small lock of hair back and stroked my cheek gently.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered.

"No I am not." I chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for a start I have this huge mass of horrible, frizzy and uncontrollable red hair." I began.

"Hey! If you insult your hair than you insult mine." He said trying to look offended.

"But you have nice hair that knows for sure that it is ginger." I ran my hands through his hair and smiled. "My hair on the other hand can't decide if it is brownish red or blondish red. It changes colour according to the light and it never listens to me when I tell it to be a certain way."

"Oh so now our hair can think..." George smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"Well I also have freckles littering my face causing me to look like a damn graffiti wall."

"I like them."

"And my stick like figure. I have no curves."

"Ok... I see your point. You are not beautiful in a conventional way."

"Thanks George."

"But you are beautiful to me. I wouldn't have you look any other way Connie. You are perfect." A smile broke across my face as I gazed up at him.

"You are perfect too you know." I whispered.

"Yeh, I know." I laughed and batted him on the shoulder before pulling him down on me into a kiss just as perfect as the moment we had just shared.

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**Hope you liked it, nice and light hearted at the end there.**

**Thank you to all of my loyal reviewers. You know who you are and I love you!**

**More reviews would be great! :D xxx**


	10. Muggle World

**Heya readers. I know this update has taken ages but I was in Poland with some people from school and then I got emailed a load more homework from my teachers for the holidays so I do have my reasons.**

**Anyway, I hope this was worth the wait.**

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Chapter 10 – Muggle World

We had only a week and a half left until returning to school and because of this I decided it was time to surprise George with a new experience. (We had also all gone too Egypt which was absolutely amazing but also a long story.)

"Ok, seriously. Where are you taking me?" He asked as I dragged him through the muggle streets.

"You will see." I responded before turning a corner into a sports centre. We approached the reception desk and I pulled some muggle money from a pocket in my skirt.

"Court two for three o'clock." I said. The receptionist nodded and typed something into the computer.

"Can I also rent two rackets and a couple balls?" I asked. She nodded again.

"That will be £25.50." I counted the muggle money out on my hand and passed over the exact change. She took it and then stood up to reach the rackets hanging on the wall behind her. She handed them too me along with two balls.

"Thank you." I picked up the balls and turned to George, handing him one of the rackets. He took it slowly with a strange look in my direction causing me to laugh. I began walking in the direction of the tennis courts with him following just behind me.

"Are you going to tell me what this is yet?" He asked me. I turned suddenly.

"We are going to play tennis." I planted a kiss on his lips before continuing on my way to the courts.

XXXX

"Right, so we just hit the ball back and forth over that net with these rackets?" George repeated after I had explained to him all of the basics.

"That is exactly it." I smiled and jogged over to the other side of the court to serve him the ball. To my surprise he hit it back easily and with precision (A skill that took me months to be good at). I began to speed up my return balls until we were playing at a decent speed. We only stopped when he missed the ball by an inch.

"How the hell are you so good at that?" I asked when we met in the middle of the court. "This is your first time; most people have no accuracy and miss half the time."

"Well, most people aren't Beaters on a Quidditch team." He smirked. "It involves some of the same skills. Accuracy, speed and agility." At the mention of Quidditch a memory of my sister passed through my mind, but this time, I didn't force it away, I embraced it and smiled.

"That is true." I leant forward against the net and touched my lips to his before running back to the edge of the court to serve him another ball.

And we continued to play for the next hour until our time was up.

After we had finished playing tennis I took him out into the town and around some of the Muggle shops. We went into a bookshop and I got a few books and mangas before eating in one of my favourite muggle restaurants.

Today really had been one of the best days ever!

XXXX

With only a few days left until we were to return to Hogwarts and with our new supplies still to buy Mrs Weasley thought it was a good idea to go and stay at the leaky cauldron.

"Between them, the Weasley's shared two rooms but I was able to afford my own room now that I had transferred all of my money to Gringotts from the Irish bank it was initially in. (When my grandmother died she left all of her money in a joint account for me and Evie. It really pissed off my mother though because she got nothing.)

Anyway, we went into Diagon Alley and bought a load of stuff for school and when we got back we ran into Harry and Hermione which distracted Ron's attention. I also saw a load more of those posters about Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban which, if I am honest, scared the shit out of me seeing as I was a death eater's daughter who had ran away.

As I wandered down one of the corridors in the Leaky Cauldron to my room I was unfortunate enough to bump into my least favourite Weasley.

"Oh, I'm sorry Percy." I muttered with complete insincerity. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I am sure you weren't. You see Connie; this is why you would never be requested as head girl." _Could he sound like any more of snob?_

"Sorry, did I miss something?"

"You heard me. Hogwarts doesn't want people like you, a death eater, to lead the school." My hands cured into fists as I resisted the urge to punch him square in the face. "I bet you weren't looking where you were going because you were so consumed with plans to bring down Hogwarts or help that escaped murderer.

"I am not a death eater." I growled. "I have never done anything to even suggest that I follow their ways. In fact, I ran away from home to get away from all of that fucking shit!" I took a step toward him and glared right into his eyes. "I don't know what I did to make you hate me so much Percy but I can assure you, I am no more a supporter of You-Know-Who than you are." I gave him a light shove against the wall and continued down the corridor only instead of going to my room I knocked on the door opposite.

Moments later the door swung open and I was pulled inside.

"Hey beautiful." George murmured in my ear before kissing my cheek.

"Hey." I pulled away from him causing a frown to cross his expression.

"Something is wrong." He stated. "I can see it."

"Wow George, you really are a genius." I said sarcastically.

"What is wrong Connie?" He rested his hands on my shoulders and looked intently into my eyes.

"Your damn brother is what is wrong." I snapped.

"Which one? I don't know if you noticed but I have five."

"Percy." I sighed. "He just accused me, again, of being a death eater and told me I wasn't worth of head girl. Not that I even would want to be head girl."

George sighed and pulled me into a hug. "Connie, don't listen to Percy. He has always thought he was better than the rest of us."

"I know but still..." I trailed off as an idea came to me. "Hey, would you have any objections to getting a bit of revenge on him?" I asked tracing circles on George's chest.

"Tell me more."

"Well, you know how he is all protective and possessive of that head boy badge?" George nodded. "What if we were to take it and hide it somewhere?"

"Sounds like a good idea." He smiled. "And the fact you would think of it makes me love you more." His lips came down onto mine for a moment.

"So we take the badge tonight?" I suggested.

"How about now?" After George said this the door opened and Fred walked in.

"I know that look." Fred grinned. "What are you planning?"

"We're going to steal Percy's Head Boy badge." I grinned.

"Awesome, I want in on this. Sounds like fun." George and I nodded to show that it was ok and then we got to planning.

XXXX

Less than an hour later when Percy was downstairs being distracted by Fred, George picked the lock to his room (because no spell would work) and let me in. As I had imagined it would be, Percy's room was in a state of perfect order. His blue and white stripy pyjamas were folded neatly on his pillow and his bed was perfectly made. On the desk at the side of the room was a pile of books arranged specifically so the largest was at the bottom and the smallest was at the top.

I looked quickly around the room in search of the badge and saw it sitting on the bedside table. I crept over to it and snatched it up from the table, shoving it in my pocket. Before half running back to the door and closing it behind me.

"Did you get it?" George asked me after re locking the door. I nodded and pulled it from my pocket to show him. "God could that thing be any shinier?" I laughed.

"I know, it is ridiculous isn't it." I kissed him quickly and we made our way downstairs to see Fred and to get some dinner. We passed Percy on the stairs on the way and he glared at me which only made me feel happier that he will some find his precious badge gone.

Fifteen minutes later Percy came barging down the stairs in a fit of anger and in a very dramatic way pointed his finger at Fred and George.

"You stole my badge!" He yelled.

The twins held their hands to their hearts and said in unison, "We did not."

"Then where is it?"

"Maybe you lost it." I suggested with a kind tone.

"You know I didn't Connie." Percy cried.

"Yeh, you are right. I took it." I confessed with a smile.

"Then give it back!" He thrust his hand towards me. I glanced sideways at the twins.

"I can't." I laughed. "I don't know where it is."

"Of course you know where it is. You are the one that took it."

"But I am not the one that hid it." I pointed out with another side glance at the hysterical twins.

"You are lying." Percy stated.

"I am actually not. Fred and George hid it, I just took it."

"I am afraid it is true Percy." George said stepping to my side. "She has no idea where it is."

"And you know we won't tell you." Fred added.

Percy could have continued arguing with them but thankfully he was smart enough to know when the battle was lost so he just clenched his fists and stormed back upstairs.

"Well that could not have gone better." I snaked my arms around George's waist and pulled him closer.

"I couldn't agree more." He smiled.

"Oh George you are so lucky to have a girl like that." Came Fred's voice from behind.

"What do you mean?" George asked and I turned in his arms to see Fred.

"You have the perfect girl. That's what I mean." Fred said causing me to laugh.

"In what way am I perfect?" I cried.

"In what way aren't you perfect?" George retorted, kissing the top of my head.

"What I mean is that you have a great sense of humour that a lot of girls don't have." Fred said before wandering off to annoy Ron.

"You know I didn't used to have a sense of humour." I muttered to George. "You gave me that."

"That is because I am awesome." He smiled.

"I can't deny that." I said before kissing him again.

XXXX

Kings cross station was very crowded when we turned up on the first of September but we fought our way through the crowds ok and made our way to platform nine and ¾ without too much difficulty. We said our goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Weasley before heading towards the carriage. George stepped on and offered me a hand up which I was about to take before I decided I needed to thank Mrs Weasley properly for giving me a place to stay over the holidays. I told George to go on and find us a compartment before going to find Mrs Weasley.

"Um, Mrs Weasley." I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around.

"Yes Connie dear." She smiled up at me.

"I just wanted to properly thank you for giving me a place to stay this summer. I was really nice of you to take on that burden."

"Oh don't worry dear, it was no trouble. I am glad that George has met someone so nice." I smiled at her compliment.

"Well thank you again." I smiled. "I really should go though, the train is about to leave." Mrs Weasley nodded and gave me a quick hug before I turned and walked towards the train and got on.

I was wandering down the corridor of the train trying to find George when suddenly a pair of strong hands grabbed hold of me and pulled me into a compartment. At first I couldn't tell who it was, because they were covering my eyes with a sweaty hand, but then when I was shoved down into a seat and the hand was removed the first thing I saw was a pair of grey eyes staring intently at me from only a few inches away.

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**Ok, tiny cliffhanger there but I think you can all guess who it is. **

**Thank you reviewers, you are all amazing!**

**Hopefully the next update will be sooner than this one was. **

**Review :)x**


	11. Blackmail

**Hellooooo Readers! I am back! Sorry for my absence, life got in the way and I tried to write a book (and failed), but I am back now and i have no plans to go anywhere. **

**Last thing that happened: Connie was pulled into a compartment and found a pair of grey eyes staring down at her. **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter. Updates will hopefully come on a weekly basis from now. :)x**

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Chapter 11 - Blackmail

My family had a huge history with the Malfoys. For a start, Lucius Malfoy was my Father's cousin. (I didn't know what that made Draco to me) During the younger years of my childhood, before my sister and I began to rebel, the Malfoys had been frequent guests at the family house and the same went for us visiting their house.

I hadn't remembered my encounters with Draco during these visits with very much clarity before now but as a looked up at Draco who had his two thuggish friends pinning me down to the chair I remembered it all so well. The last time we had been in each other's presence (before I arrived at Hogwarts that is) Draco had been only seven years old, Evie and I were nine. His hair had been even blonder (if you can believe it) and his youth gave an impression of innocence, but anybody who knew him also knew that this wasn't the case.

He had had much the same kind of upbringing as me and Evie although there had been one major difference. Where Evie and I had chosen to rebel and act against the values of a death eater, he had seemed to embrace these values. Even at only seven years old you could see the evil thoughts making a home in his mind. But Evie and I had believed that there was still hope for him to grow and be a better person than this. We had tried to make him see that there was another way to live. He after all couldn't be blamed for what he was thinking, he had been brainwashed from birth with ideas about superiority in those with pure blood etc and even though we had failed then to change his mind, I still believed there was hope for him yet.

"Hello Draco." I greeted in a calm tone.

"Don't speak to me." He spat. "You are a traitor to your family. You have no right." I raised an eyebrow.

"Well if talking isn't what you want then I am at a loss as to why you have me pinned down by these two," I cast quick glances at Crabbe and Goyle, "inside your train cart." A look was exchanged between Draco and Goyle which resulted in a slap across my face delivered by Goyle.

"That was for not doing as a said." Draco explained. "Now you are going to listen to me." He dismissed Crabbe and Goyle so he could talk to me in private. The moment I was released from their hold I sat myself up and reached up a hand to my stinging cheek before fixing a look in Draco.

"You know, I didn't recognise you later year." He began. "During the sorting ceremony at the start of the year I hadn't been paying attention when your name was called and then seeing you around the school I still didn't notice it was you. Do you know why?" I shook my head. "It was because you were alone. Every time I ever saw you in the past you were standing right alongside your sister. But not last year, no last year you were alone."

"I wasn't alone." I snapped suddenly, he couldn't expect to taunt me about Evie and not gain a reaction.

"Oh yes that right. You were with Weasley." He mocked. "What a great choice of company you have."

"At least his family have morals and decency." I spat back. "Now get to your point, I want to be somewhere else." For a moment Draco looked shocked that I spoke with such venom but after a moment I think he decided he liked that he had gotten to me (after all, it had to have been his intention) and a smile settles on his face.

"Your parents don't know you are coming to Hogwarts do they?" I shook my head even though what he had said was a statement rather than a question. "Just a warning, I could easily let slip to my father about your whereabouts and he would almost certainly contact your father and then you could be in a situation of trouble."

"You haven't told your father already?" I asked. "I thought you told daddy everything."

"I only tell him things when it benefits me. I this case though I see more benefits in keeping this from him."

I narrowed my eyes. "How so?"

"I can use the information to get what I want out of you." He said simply. I just laughed.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to break it off with that Weasley you are with. Someone of your bloodline should not be with a blood traitor such as him."

"Is that all?" I asked sarcastically. There was no way I was going to break up with George over this threat; I would sooner have my parents know where I am. It's not like they can force me home.

"For now it is." Draco smiled.

"Then you can forget it." I said standing up. "Tell your dad whatever the hell you like. I am not leaving George."

"Are you sure you have properly thought this through?" Draco asked looking put out by my lack of cooperation.

"There is no thinking to do. George and the others are the only thing that has brought me a even a shred of happiness since Evangeline died and I am not going to give that up." I said putting emphasis the word 'not'.

Draco shrugged his shoulders to give the impression that he didn't care. "Suit yourself." He muttered as I slammed the carriage door behind me and walked past Crabbe and Goyle who had been just standing in the isle.

As I began searching the carriage compartments for Fred and George I accidentally bumped into Harry.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"Connie? Are you ok?" Harry asked. I nodded brusquely.

"Yeh, I'm just looking for Fred and George, have you seen them?"

"I think they are in the carriage just down there." Harry pointed. "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Uh, no, not really." I replied honestly and before he could say anything more I thanked him and shuffled past.

Once I had located the compartment I wanted I entered but I brushed my hair forward and kept my head down in the off chance that the slap I had received had left a mark.

"Connie? Are you ok?" The voice of Angelina reached my ears. "We were worried about you so Fred. George, Lee and Alicia went out to see if they could find you."

My intention had been to keep what had just happened to myself, I didn't want the sympathy, not to mention the fact that nobody besides the Weasley's and possibly Harry and Hermione (because Ron told them everything)knew about my family so it would be quite hard to explain what had just happened without bringing that up. For this reason I lied to my best friends. "Yeh, everything is fine, I was just using the toilet and then I couldn't find your compartment." I sat down next to Katie and opposite Angelina.

"Then why do you have a big red mark across your cheek?" Katie asked pulling back my hair to make it more visible.

I said the first thing that came to mind. "You know how excited the first years can get; one of them was jumping up and down waving their hands in the air and caught me rather hard across the face." I feigned a laugh. "They apologised profusely thinking I was going to hit them back of something but I just shrugged them off and wished them a good year." I think they bought it... Angelina shrugged her shoulders and Katie nodded and muttered an ok.

No more than five minutes later the others returned to the compartment, I noticed Lee and Alicia were holding hands, and George came straight and sat beside me. "Where were you?" He asked taking a hold of my hand. I gave my excuse. "And somehow you managed to get injured in the process?" He reached up and stroked my cheek which was still stinging slightly. I gave my other excuse which everyone seemed to believe just fine. It was only when a conversation began between everyone that George leant in and whispered in my good ear, "You were lying just then?"

I turned to look at him. "How the hell did you know that?" I whispered back.

"Just did. Now are you going to tell me the truth?"

"I will later. It would only complicate things if I told you now."

George nodded and kissed my cheek. "Ok, I will accept that."

"What are you two whispering about?" Alicia asked, a few seconds passed before I realized she was referring to George and I.

"Just couples stuff." I said vaguely. "And speaking of couples, is it official with you and Lee yet? Don't think I didn't notice the hand holding." A smile made its way across Alicia's lips and with a side glance at Lee she nodded with enthusiasm.

"It's official!"

"Oh that's great!" Angelina cried. "When did this happen?"

"Just last week." Lee answered.

"How?" Katie asked causing Alicia to dive into a long description of how exactly the pair had gotten together.

I listened happily with my attention only wavering when George whispered (in my good ear), "Quick thinking with the change of subject."

I laughed and lent my head against his shoulder.

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**There we go, that is it for this chapter.**

**Again, sorry for my absence. I will try to keep updates coming weekly.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Love you all x**


	12. The Truth

**The next chapter is here for you! I know it is shorter than most but I hope it is just as good.**

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Chapter 12 – The Truth

The rest of the train ride was, to say the least, eventful. About half way through the trip we got a wonderful visit from a Dementor which thankfully didn't enter out compartment but I hear it did go into Harry and Ron's which needless to say, wasn't good.

During dinner we were all introduced to our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and warned that Dementors would be patrolling around the grounds in the case that Sirius Black would turn up (Merlin I hope he wouldn't).

One the way up to the common room George and I split from the rest of the group to have a bit of time alone. It was George's idea and I assumed it was because he wanted to know what really happened on the train. I was right. The moment we were standing alone he turned and asked me.

"Well, as you know, I stayed behind so that I could properly thank your mother for giving me place to stay over the holidays and then when I went to get on the train I was grabbed by Crabbe and Goyle and dragged into a train compartment to see Draco." I told him.

"Malfoy? What did he want?"

"To tell me that he recognised me and that if I didn't do as he said he would tell his father that he knew where I was."

"How does he recognise you? You only came to this school last year."

I drew in a breath. "His father and my father are kind of cousins." I confessed. "Evie and I spent quite a large amount of our childhoods at his house and vice versa. So if his father knows where I am it won't be long before my parents know as well."

"Oh." He paused a moment before speaking again. "So what did he want, if we can get it to him then his father will never find out, hopefully, and then you will be safe."

"It doesn't matter." I said. "I'm not going to give him what he wants." George reached up and stroked my cheek.

"What is it he wants Connie?" His eyes met mine for a long moment before I looked down to the floor.

"He wants me to end my relationship with you." I muttered.

"He wants you to break up with me?!" George exclaimed.

"Yes, But don't worry I'm not going to do it." I tried to reassure him.

"That little shit!" George's hands curled into fists and I reached out to take one of them and smoothed his knuckles hoping that the fist would loosen.

"I'm not going to break up with you." I reassured him but then he said something that took me completely off guard.

"Maybe you should."

"I'm sorry... What?" I dropped his hand and stepped back.

"Maybe you should break up with me." He replied without a hint of joking in his tone. I took another step back so I was leaning against the cold stone wall of the corridor.

"You are joking right." I breathed but George shook his head.

"No, I'm not joking. I don't want to see you taken back to Ireland by your Parents. I want you to be happy and you can't be happy there." His voice was week; I could tell that he no more wanted to do this than I."

"I won't be taken back to Ireland. Dumbledore won't let them." I reassured him. "And I would rather be with you and go through complications than not be with you and not have problems." A small smile made its way to George's lips.

"Really, are you sure?"

I nodded. "Of course I'm sure. You make me the happiest I have been in a long time." His smile grew. I stepped closer again and he embraced me and kissed my hair.

"Love you Connie." He muttered, kissing me again before stepping back and stroking my cheek. At first his gaze was filled with adoration but I couldn't help noticing a slight change after a moment. "Connie, why was your cheek red back on the train?"

I sighed. "Draco ordered Goyle to hit me for speaking out of turn." I confessed. Almost instantly George had his hands held firm on my shoulders.

"He didn't hurt you anywhere else did he?" There was something in his voice that I had never heard before.

"Only emotionally." I sighed, remembering his taunting words about Evie, my hand rose to my locket, an action that didn't go unnoticed by George.

"He didn't?" George growled.

"He did." I replied.

"That is low, even for Malfoy."

"I know... but what can you do?" I asked with intentions of the question being rhetorical.

"I can talk to him." George said turning away.

"No. By talk I can tell you mean threaten or something of the sort." I jumped back in front of him. "That isn't who you are George."

"Connie. He it you."

"He didn't hit me he ordered..."

"I know what he did! You told me, but getting someone else to do it is just as bad." He was practically shouting now.

"George please just leave it." I begged. "It doesn't matter."

"Yes Connie. It does matter and to make things worse he actually taunted you by talking about your sister." I reached forward to take George's fisted hands but he pulled away. "He hurt you, in more ways than one and you expect me to just let him get away with it."

"Yes." I said reaching for his hand again. This time he didn't pull away. "What will threatening him or hurting him accomplish. That is how my parents always dealt with people they didn't like and all it ever did was create more misery. I don't want that. He may be an unpleasant person but believe it or not, I sympathise with him. He had the same upbringing as me; he just doesn't have the strength to fight against it in the same way. Don't give him the satisfaction of showing I'm that he got to you, that is what he wants, or what he thinks he wants."

George let out a sigh. "I guess you are right."

"I am right." I pulled open his now relaxed fists and slipped my hands into his. "Now can we go up to the common room? I am exhausted and could really do with some sleep."

George nodded. "Yes. We can."

"Thank you."

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**Thank you people for reading and again for the reviews I received on the last chapter.**

**Next one will be up within a week.**

**Please review! :)x**


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